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http://www.youaredumb.net/node/1432 Since it's Thanksgiving, my thoughts are dragged, kicking and screaming, to what I'm thankful for. Whether I want to or not. Which makes me sarcastically thankful to the society and media that's doing all the dragging just so it can sell me cranberries. They don't have to, I mean, I'll buy cranberries and cranberry-based products just fine without also contemplating the nature of my gratitude, but whatever.</p>
When it comes to You Are Dumb Dot Net, though, there is one thing that I'm thankful for every single day. And that's shit I don't have to care about. When you care about stuff, pretend to care about stuff, or care about stuff's ability to lead to a good dick joke five days a week for as many years as I have, there is a sweet, wonderful bliss in seeing a topic in your news feed and knowing, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you don't need to care about that shit. So this year, what am I most thankful for?
SARAH PALIN:
Yes, she had a book written for her. Lovely. Don't give a crap. You'd think I would, given that the rest of the world seems to care about this book more than they do about oxygen. You'd think I would also because for most of 2008, I cared about Sarah Palin very, very much. But once she quit the Alaska governorship, I quit caring. Why? Because she holds no office and is running for no office. And the only reason anyone needs to care about Sarah Palin is to fear that she might end up in a position to make decisions about our lives.
Since that's not happening this year, Sarah Palin doesn't matter. If I covered every author who put out a largely fictional non-fiction book full of allegedly homespun Real America Wisdom, I'd have to change the name of the site to Chicken Soup For The Dumb. Fuck that. Plus, not caring about Sarah Palin comes with a bonus side effect - not caring about Levi Johnston. Who is not, I repeat, NOT on our side. He can sit in the stinky corner with Chris Matthews and all the other enemies of my enemies who are still moronic douchebags. And not caring about Levi Johnston gives me another side effect, not caring about Levi Johnston's penis.
ADAM LAMBERT'S PENIS:
Also Adam Lambert's tongue. Also Adam Lambert's larynx. Apparently, a gay dude won American Idol again, then told everyone he was a gay dude, then put out an album with a very effeminate cover portrait, since people still associate effeminate with gay. And then he went on the American Music Awards, humped the stage, grabbed his crotch, and kissed a dude. I don't give a shit, and neither should the thousands of people who tuned into the AMA's and wondered why they were having the Grammys twice in one year.
Adam Lambert is a flamboyant performer trying to make sure people remember who he is, because he won a talent competition. That is why he humped the stage and grabbed his crotch, because apparently, nearly three decades after we all got upset about Michael Jackson doing it, humping things and grabbing your crotch while you sing is still flamboyant. Adam Lambert is also a gay dude, which means when he goes to kiss someone, odds are pretty good it's going to be another dude, unless it's a magazine shoot where he'll get more attention for kissing parts of a naked chick. None of this is surprising, none of this is shocking, and since I have no reason to give a shit about any of it, guess what? I don't.
TWILIGHT:
I'm a middle-aged male nerd. And while I'm certainly comfortable with that fact and make the best of it, it is not a position rife with social or biological advantage. But it does mean that I have every fucking right, and quite possibly an obligation, not to give a shit about Twilight.
Of course millions of teenagers are pouring billions of dollars into the shitty books about the shitty vampires and the shitty movies based on the shitty books. They're teenagers. They have no taste. None of you had any damn taste when you were teenagers, either. The Breakfast Club sucks, you know.
And since billions of dollars are pouring into it, the media will inevitably decide that it's important, and thus you will see sparkle-vampires and six-pack werewolves everywhere, and you will bemoan the kids today, with their baggy pants, hula hoops, and free love. And me, I will just sit back and marvel at the fact that society has produced a group of vampire-obsessed people more irritating than 1990's White Wolf nerds. So if you're driving around with a faded Toreador bumper sticker* on your Volvo, congratulations! You've moved up a step on the Wank Ladder!
*Yes, I briefly Googled to see if any actual V:TM bumper stickers existed, but once I found a "humor" page with suggested wordings for said stickers, I lost the will to live.
Annoying friends and strangers alike, 140 bytes at a time. Automatically shipped by LoudTwitter
Here's a wonderful video of wonderful sf writer and critic talking about his favorite Astoundingsthanks to Eric Solstein
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/011918.html By the President of the United States of America.
A Proclamation.
The year that is drawing towards its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies.
To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battlefield; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People.
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.
And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity, and Union.
In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Independence of the United States the Eighty-eighth.
By the President: Abraham Lincoln
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State
As you may know, a few days ago a hacker broke into the main server at a university in the UK and put the private e-mails, dating back 13 years, of several researchers and professors engaged in the study of global warming on the internet. Think for a minute about all of your private e-mails for the last 13 years becoming public. Gives me a knot. Here's and article on the incident. Today I had lunch in a grill that had Fox News on the TV. As usual, I sat where I could not see the screen, but I couldn't get away from the speakers. The host of the show had as guests one of the scientists whose mail had been made public and a representative of the American Enterprise Institute (an ultra-right "think tank" funded by big business and dedicated to the proposition that only multi-million-dollar CEOs should be allowed to vote) to "debate" the global warming "scandal." I did not catch the name of the host, the scientist, or the AEI rep. Throughout the AEI rep kept repeating "that's not true" while the scientist was talking. But whenever the scientist asked for concrete information, specifics to back up the repeated accusations, the AEI rep ignored the challenge. I can not quote the whole show verbatim, but a few of the exchanges stuck with me. ( Read more... )It went on like that all through my lunch, ending with the host telling viewers that the show was part of the ongoing coverage of the revelation that global warming alarmists have been falsifying their reports; information that is rocking the scientific community.
I am thankful for the good stuff. I am thankful for my readers and my fans and my supporters. I am thankful for the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, who saw fit to give me a Lifetime Achievement Award for reasons passing understanding. I am thankful for artists Will Sliney, Tommy Patterson, Neal Edwards, and Caleb Cleveland, and for my collaborator Rockne S. O'Bannon, who have all been joys to work with on the Farscape comics. I am thankful for Ross, Chip, Matt, Ian, Mark, Nelson, Johanna, Dafna, Bryce, Neil, Jenny, and the rest of the BOOM! Studios folk, who have made me feel like part of the family. I am thankful for Lucienne Diver, the bestest agent ever, and for all my editors -- Chris, Cath, Jaime, Marco, Troy, and the rest. I am thankful for the conventions who have invited me to come and be a guest. I am thankful for my fellow Boogie Knights, who allow me to continue to enrich my soul with music. I am thankful for The Chronic Rift, allowing me to babble. I am thankful for HG World, allowing me to play a right-wing Vietnam-veteran radio host. I am thankful for David Mack and the rest of the gang who roasted me at Shore Leave, dear friends, all. I am thankful for Shihan and everyone at the dojo, and I am thankful for my black belt, an accomplishment that means far more than I realized it would. I am thankful for friends and family and felines. I am thankful for W and T. I am thankful for surviving to my 40th birthday. And I am thankful that this roller-coaster of a year is almost over. *wry grin*
Black Cat Impact: Monday morning, a black cat crossed my path on my way to work. The bad luck has been with me.. http://tinyurl.com/ybemoos Wed, Nov. 25th, 2009, 09:04 pm
![[i]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) daytonward: Star Trek: The Experience: A Virtual Tour.
For you Trekkies who are missing the late and lamented Star Trek: The Experience attraction, which stood proudly within the environs of the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel from January 1998 to September 2008, there's now something which just might fill the void, if only a bit. Digital Properties, a firm specializing in "360-degree virtual tours" for a variety of uses from showing off houses for real estate websites to hotels and other commercial properties, has made available for public viewing a tour package they originally created for the attraction's management team as a "historical archive" as well as being a gift to the employees. The tour covers all areas of The Experience, including staff areas which only were available to the public if they took the "Behind the Scenes" tour. So far as I can tell, they don't go so far as to spoil the illusion of how certain aspects of the attractions were "brought to life," but it's still fun to drag your mouse around the different pictures and zoom in on this or that. Check it out: Digital Properties: Star Trek: The Experience 360-Degree Virtual TourYou can even get a look-see at Quark's Bar, which is mighty damned important, if you ask me....  Thanks very much to the staff at TrekToday.com, who brought this very cool bit of news to my attention.
Down and safe in Chicago, at the con hotel a day before the convention's earliest event. There were folks who'd take me in if I asked, but after the drive and before the con, it's a bit nice to have some time to spread out and be alone. Notes from the road: Fact: You can go on the Super 8 website and enter your route and it will list all the hotels along that route. Additional fact: Youngstown Ohio is a little over 5 hours from work, making it a good not-quite-halfway stopping point. Also, that Super 8 is much cheaper than the ones near Pittsburgh or Cleveland. Fact: The Youngstown Super 8 is sandwiched between a huge 24-hour truck stop and a strip joint. Additional fact: The woman at the Comfort Inn said that a lot of people mentioned the previous fact when they showed up to check in. Things I am not used to hearing my GPS unit say: "Stay on this route for 236 miles. Then take exit to the left. Stay on that route 197 miles." I have eaten in Germany; had one of the best meals of my life there. German food is nothing like "Dutch" food; Das Dutchman Essenhaus essentially served me gravy on potatoes and white bread with a little turkey and a side of bread rolls. Because tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I'll take the opportunity to say: Thank you, Ike Eisenhower. I'm sure at the time people bitched and moaned that you were a socialist (or, considering your influences, a Nazi) and that the government both shouldn't and couldn't create an effective road system, just as I'm sure people bitched that painting lines on the road was creating a nanny state and coddling people who couldn't learn how to properly drive, so thank you, Dr. June McCarroll for not taking "no" (or "shut up") for an answer and making a fuss until California painted lines and lanes and the rest of the world realized what a good idea that was. Thank you both, from someone who just used the ability to drive quickly and safely across five states.
Friday, November 27th-Sunday, December 6th
Uncle Edgar's and Uncle Hugo's10% off everything (except gift certificates, discount cards, and stuff that's already 40% off). Already have our discount card? You'll save even more - 10% for the sale, and 10% for the discount card. Save on new books, used books, audiobooks, games, calendars, greeting cards, and more. (In-store purchases only - sale prices do not apply to online, mail, or phone orders.) Store hours:10am-8pm Monday through Friday 10am-6pm Saturday Noon-5pm Sunday (Closed for Thanksgiving Thursday, November 26th)
Since I got home from NCTE Saturday night, I've been devouring books. This happens to me when I've just finished a big project (I turned in the final revision for SUGAR ON SNOW after an afternoon of work in a Philly coffee shop!) - I have a sudden need to go on a reading binge before I move on to something else, so that's what I've been doing. I've finished Cynthia Omololu's fast-paced, compelling YA debut, DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS, which comes out from Walker in February. Then it was Bonnie Shimko's upcoming MG novel, THE PRIVATE THOUGHTS OF AMELIA E. RYE, which releases from FSG this spring and has a main character with one of the greatest voices of all time. Really. And finally, Elizabeth Partridge's MARCHING FOR FREEDOM, an amazing narrative nonfiction account of the children and young people involved in the Civil Rights march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965. All of these books are wonderful in wildly different ways, and I'll be blogging about them all soon in more detail. For now, I'm just thankful to have read them. I'm also thankful for these kids...  ...who joined me for an author presentation at Dodge Memorial Library in Rouses Point, NY on their day off today. One boy, who was already waiting on the carpet when I arrived to set up my projector, looked up and asked, "So you write books?" I nodded and handed him copies of my two regional historical novels as well as THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. He started flipping through one of the books, and his eyes got huge. "You wrote ALL THIS?" Sometimes as authors, published or unpublished, we forget what an accomplishment that really is. And one last thankful moment...that came in my email from a teacher in Kansas. Her school library did a great project where kids got to create pumpkins that looked like their favorite book characters. Guess who this is:  Yep...it's my main character from THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. See the resemblance?  I love the way this reader/pumpkin artist captured Gianna's crazy red curls and her creative spirit, and mostly, I'm honored that she connected with the character enough to turn her into a pumpkin. Moments like this, so wonderfully quirky and unexpected, have been the very best part of this book journey. Much to be thankful for, indeed. I hope your Thanksgiving is full of wonderful people, good food, and great books!
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wwdn/~3/6NegNN7bfzo/the-guild-the-guild-the-guild-the-guild-the-guild-the-motherfrakking-guild.html I, uh, had trouble coming up with a title for this post. Sorry about that. So season Three of The Guild wrapped up this week, and if the feedback I'm getting via Twitter and e-mail is any indication, we can make a note here: HUGE SUCCESS.
Felicia has a post at her blog where she talks in a spoileriffic way about her creative process and the choices she made for this season.
So the episodes. Two Guilds. Fifteen Actors. 20 Extras. What a nightmare, who thought of this storyline anyway?!?! Well, for episode 11 it is the finest frenzy we’ve ever done. I was determined to give everyone a grace note in one of these episodes, and I think everyone got wrapped up pretty well. There were, frankly, too many storylines going on this season, but out of necessity I made them work, because I couldn’t think of any other way to do the season. I think for season 4 there will be a more streamlined story on my writing part, but due to the chaotic nature of this season’s storyline I’m really happy with how it turned out.
Don't read it if you haven't watched all the way to the end, but if you have, I think it'll entertain you to the max, for sure.
Speaking of entertaining things ... here's the episode 9-12 gag reel!
Felicia points out that you can watch all of Season Three at Bing Video, which is kind of a big deal because it means that Bing is finally useful for something. Mark this day in history, kids. And Felicia, if you see this: Kick ass, dude. Once again, you owned it. Warning: Assume that there will be Guild Spoilers™ in the comments.
 
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thankful
Awesome!
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This morning, SFWA member